Art - Paintings - Brad Aldridge

Brad Aldridge, although married with children, admits to a love affair. The relationship has gone on for several years, and he is candid about its intimacy.

When he communes with his paramour, Aldridge is intoxicated by her sounds, smells, textures and colors—like her cloak of subtle hues at dawn or her reflections of shadowed silhouettes. He has painted her changing moods often, exploring her curves, swells, depressions, secrets and surprises using what he calls a “sensual shorthand” of expressionistic and impressionistic brushstrokes combined with scraping and sanding techniques.

“I see these paintings as sensual objects in the true meaning of the word,” he explains. “The visual complexity of the rippling water, the smell of molding leaves and wet wood, the palpable air, filled with insects and pollen, the music of the stream and the branches that brush against me combine to delight and stimulate all the senses.”

Many of Aldridge’s paintings have graceful arched tops. “The arch is an archetypal shape that has a variety of meanings,” he says. In art historical terms, arches often represented the vault of the sky or the heavens. Aldridge’s arched tops seem to enshrine sacred places where the viewer finds sanctuary. “I find beauty and hope in real world, not fantasy, landscapes,” he says.